Rebekah Rose's little sister's ailments soon become her own, drawing a handsome, young teacher's curiosity and concern. Is someone playing Russian Roulette with the lives of the Rose siblings? ****I'm updating chapters and then will continue to add****

So, for those who've read this story before, you'll note that Dan's last name is now Shields. :)

This particular story is more fair to the original. If you'd like something deeper, visit my blog- the link is in my profile. There, you'll find a longer, more in depth story- or drama- revolving around Dan, Bekah and Dan's family. Not to mention the insertion of characters from all of my stories. :)

CHAPTER TWO

The moonlight illuminated marble-like, blue eyes in a way that reminded Bekah of a cat's eye glowing in a stream of headlights. Kristen's old doll, Katie, seemed to be sending supernatural rays in Bekah's direction, perhaps with the intention of burning Big Sister to a crisp. The dusty underside of her bed called her name but she'd probably get bitten but a monster spider.

To add to her misery, Katie's spirals matched Kristen's. Not perfectly, but almost.

Almost.

Bekah had almost saved Kristen. But just as half-truths are whole lies, almost saving someone equates to complete failure. Period.

Which was why she should have thrown herself from the school terrace the other night.

Katie's smile raised the eeriness of the night. The smile she'd worn all these years usually appeared friendly and sweet. But on nights like this- pure evil emanated from that innocent little hunk of plastic. And the nightmarish pink of Bekah's bedroom helped very little. In fact, not even tossing the doll out the window could rid this room of nightmares.

Bekah pulled on her tennis shoes, allowing the half-untied strings to flip around as she made her way to her door. Once outside her parents' bedroom, she stopped to listen. Not a sound, thank God, so she scurried to the back door and shivered with the expectation that Katie would soon be closing in on her.

After she'd reached the back exit of their small ranch house, Bekah locked the door, tied her shoes, and jogged toward the fence. And, no, she would not be peering over her shoulder, though she knew that one day that evil doll would come floating after her, knife in hand with nothing but revenge on her mind.

As ridiculous as the image might have been, no laughter, not even the slightest hint, brewed inside of her. Right now, only one thing would make her feel better and that one thing waited in the park behind her house.

She buttoned her jacket to shield herself from the chill of the October evening and quickly climbed the high, creaky fence that swayed under her weight. If Daddy-O didn't work such long hours, he might have been able to fix the stupid thing. Bekah had thought about mending it, if only to relieve even a fraction of the misery her poor parents must have been feeling. Four years wasn't nearly long enough to erase the pain she'd caused.

Not even close, damn it. Not even close.

She carefully dropped to the opposite side of the brown barricade. Once before, she'd released herself too quickly and had endured an aching butt for nearly a week afterwards.

Thank God no ghostly dolls had followed. As she ran down the hill, she cursed herself for those all-night horror marathons, yet she knew she'd do it again. No other genre lent her the rush that came with fear and the sudden release from fear. Though with villains like Freddy Kruger, that release never came.

As she jogged, the sound of her friends' chatter could be heard just above the babbling creek that snaked its way behind the house, the school, and several blocks after that.

Yes this was a bad neighborhood, and yes, there might have been some crazies hanging out this time of night, but at least she wouldn't be alone. Safety in numbers and all.

"Hey, Kids," she said.

Renee, Misty and Alice, who was sitting with her back against a tree, puffing away on a joint, all looked up.

"Hey! Where'd you get that?" Bekah demanded of Alice.

"Her brother," Misty answered, as was her habit- answering for other people, that is.

Renee handed her a bottle of Vodka. Misty produced a 2 liter of pop, and the three of them mixed the two liquids inside of plastic cups.

Alice giggled. "Weak, I tell ya! You girls are weak!"

"You're the one who slept with the entire football team! That's what I call weak!" Misty snapped and Alice gasped.

"It wasn't the whole team! So I've slept with five."

Bekah shook her head. If that wasn't sad, what was? Bekah had known Alice Macalister since the seventh grade, and all that time the petite girl with the long, flowing brown waves had been a sucker for a cute guy and quick fix. Drugs, alcohol and sex were Alice's vices, but despite that craziness, the girl scored mostly B's and a few A's on all of her report cards. Bekah only hoped her good luck in the academic department wouldn't be shot down by an STD or a drug overdose.

Alice's mother worked long hours- a waitress by day and a bartender by night. As for the girl's father...what the heck was he and where the heck was he? Mystery of the century.

The lack of parental supervision allow Alice and her brother to indulge in all sorts of mischievousness.

Misty Bennet had the opposite problem- her mother had vanished and her father worked long hours. First shift, he was a maintenance man, then hopped into a phone booth to become Bartender-Man by night.

Bekah sometimes teased that Mr. Bennet should marry Mrs. Macalister and they could be one, big drunken family. To this, Misty usually shook her fist.

Renee Steltzer lived with both of her parents, a wonderful, goody-goody little fact, right? Except that Renee had undergone a million years worth of religious lecturing. Especially because she was the tall, blond, cheerleader-type with not such a great stash of common sense. Though smart when it came to school work, Renee had bartered her bike for a $50 make-up kit.

Gag.

Bekah mostly felt sorry for her lack of smarts, while admiring Misty for her smart-ass, no one's going to walk all over me attitude. Built like Miss Piggy with the blue eyes to match, Misty rarely caved in to the most recent clothing fads and she'd just as soon kick a girl's butt if she dared to tease her for it.

Alice, too, wore whatever she wanted, whenever the heck she wanted, but this sometimes attracted too much attention- especially when she arrived at school dressed in mis-matching colors. Renee, on the other hand, always matched her clothes (tonight, however, she wore a pink sweater and blue jeans).

So her friends were quite the mixture of wisdom and stupidity, strengths and weaknessness.

Just like her.

Glancing up the hill she'd just jogged down, Bekah tugged her jacket and stood with her drink in hand. "Let's move this party closer to the creek."

Alice slowly got to her feet and so did the others. Why they usually followed Bekah's lead, she'd no friggin clue, but they also had no trouble voicing their disagreements. And that always made for some fun-ass debate.

Renee towered next to Bekah and they crunched through leaves and the other two girls stalked ahead of them. While Misty and Alice laughed about what they'd seen on Saaturday Puke Live, Renee leaned closer and said quietly, "So, Bekah, you never did tell us why you disappeared the other night."

What happened the other night? Oh, nothing. Mr. Shields just added a stupid assignment to my to-do-list. Nothing big.

"I wasn't feeling good, so I left." She shrugged. She then gulped half of the mixture and giggled into the cup, forming bubbles that tickled her lips.

"Yeah, right," Renee said, using a lofty tone of voice. "I came out to look for you, Rosie Rose…You were talking to Mr. Shields. Do you know how many girls would like to be stuck in the dark talking to him?" She giggled loudly, and the other two peeked over their shoulders before returning to their mindless banter.

"Yes, I know, believe me, I know."

"Do you know if he has a girlfriend?" Renee asked.

"How the hell would I know?" She feigned indifference and took another long, long drink. Ah, that was better. There came the slight release of tension. Drown the memories, drown the sadness. Amen.

"I wonder if I could apply for the job in a year or so." She tossed her head back. "Just kidding. Too old for me, but he is damn cute."

Renee had plenty of boring, high school jocks to pick from, anyway. She didn't need Mr. Shields.

Friggin conceited jocks. Bekah mentally laughed. The boys at school were more boring than a tennis match. Not that she was the life of the party… not anymore. Her friends seemed to understand why and never hounded her about her personality change, nor did they dare to bring up Kristen's death. Not anymore, anyway.

"Wanna hear something funny?" Renee asked. "If you look inside his car, you'll almost always see a Bible sitting on his dashboard."

His car? "Who?"

"Mr. Shields, goofball!"

"Oh..." Bekah shrugged. "So? If the man wants to read the Bible, that's his right."

"Yeah, I know, but you'd never know it, would you? That he's a Bible thumper."

"You don't know that he is. Reading the Bible doesn't automatically make him a clone like your parents."

"Ok, Ok. I'm off of the Bible topic now."

"Sounds like the best idea of the night."

They stepped through the trees, along a short, winding path beside the creek, and each took a seat on a large rock. Bekah helped herself to another drink. How she made it home that night, she didn't know, but she woke up the next morning with a pounding headache, nappy hair and a touchy ankle. What the hell? She'd have to ask Renee about it later.

She showered quickly, and then put on a small amount of make up before blow-drying her hair. After that, she stood pouting over her puffy bangs, but there was no time to for that.

She limped into her bedroom with her towel around her, glad that her parents had already left for work. This way, she wouldn't have to fight over the computer.

She dressed in jeans and a black blouse and then headed for the bedroom-turned office to crank out a quick story to satisfy Shields.

The room was mostly dark and Bekah sort of liked it this way. It added to the dreariness that she wanted to pour into this story. Madness and mayhem. Her handsome teacher probably expected some cutesy little story from the 'little girl' who'd been sulking in the dark last Friday night while all the other kids danced and partied. Well, he was going to get a little surprise.

OOOO

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